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Jaspal Kaur Cheema & Anr. v. M/s. Industrial Trade Links and Ors. Etc.

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 584Decided 3 Jul 2017
Civil Appeal Nos. 8384-8386 of 2017
Justice J. Chelameswar · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer

Background

The appellants (landlords) sought to evict their tenants from a portion of an industrial shed in Chandigarh on the ground of personal necessity, under the East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction Act. After the landlords had finished presenting their evidence and the tenants were well into theirs, the tenants tried to amend their written statement to newly claim that the landlords were not actually the owners: that an individual named Smt. Raj Nanda was the true owner and the landlords were merely her power-of-attorney holders. The Rent Controller rejected this late amendment, but the Punjab and Haryana High Court allowed it, prompting the landlords' appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the tenants, having already admitted in cross-examination that the landlords were the owners and that they had signed a lease deed from them, could not now be allowed to raise an entirely new, belated plea disputing ownership. The Court relied on Section 116 of the Indian Evidence Act, which bars a tenant from denying his landlord's title during the continuance of the tenancy: a principle of estoppel preventing a tenant from taking an inconsistent position after having benefited from the tenancy. Since the tenants never raised this ownership dispute in their original written statement and only did so after cross-examination exposed inconsistencies, the Rent Controller was right to reject the amendment, and the High Court erred in permitting it. The Supreme Court therefore set aside the High Court's order and restored the Rent Controller's original decision rejecting the amendment application.

Lesson Learnt

A tenant who has accepted possession of rented premises from a landlord cannot later turn around and dispute that landlord's ownership while the tenancy continues: the law treats this as an unfair, inconsistent position, and courts will be reluctant to allow a party to introduce such a new defence late in litigation, especially after already admitting the contrary under oath.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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